There are countless examples of RFID technology being used in retail stores for inventory and supply chain applications. Studies have shown that 10 percent or more sales uplift can be realized by reducing the out-of-stock SKU's in retail stores. However the use of RFID by consumers using their RFID-tagged merchandise at home has not been adequately addressed by prior art. One of the impediments to such progress is the lack of automated inventory measurement systems. Such systems are therefore a preliminary step toward consumer-facing smart phone applications of the present invention and are described in detail below.
Forrester and zmags report now that mobile devices are driving online sales; $137 million in sales from smartphones and $61 million from tablets in 2012. Sales are rising to 9% by 2017 at 26% to 35% CAGR. Retail items include: daily deals, toys, media, consumer electronics, clothing, shoes, accessories and house wares. IBM reports that in 2012 12.9% of online sales were from mobile, split about evenly between smartphones and tablets. 32% to 54% plan to shop in 2012-2013 holiday season using smartphones or tablets, more prevalently among men. Tablets are most commonly used for browsing and researching products and making purchases. The use of QR codes is relatively small. Search engines and email is used more prevalently by consumers to access retailers' web pages; the use of SMS is not a top-3 driver. The repeat customer rate is 29%. Average order value is almost $160. Shopping frequency is several times a month, with 18% of tablet users more than once a week. HTML5 is preferred over Flash.
Many shoppers research online and then come to the retail stores with their smart phones, armed with prices, facts, and analysis. The mobile phone guides them to and through the stores helping them make their purchase decisions. RFID will play an increasing role in this process. Indoor navigation will guide the mission shopper through the targeted stores in the most efficient way possible. It will become the retailer's challenge to entice the mission shopper to buy more while in the store, either as planned or unplanned purchases.
Consumers will also interact with RFID tags at home. Consumers have a different set of needs for RFID tags than do the brand owners and retailers that sell them the goods. The present invention teaches how supply-chain RFID transponders are transformed into transponders that are safe for use at home.
The present invention relates to a system, including methods and devices utilizing wireless sensor devices and RFID (radio-frequency identification) transponders. Specifically, the present invention relates to systems, methods, and devices for increasing privacy preservation for supply chain transponders that are used by consumers after tagged items are purchased and brought home.
Radio-frequency identification (RFID) transponders enable improved identification and tracking of objects by encoding data electronically in a compact tag or label. Radio-frequency identification (RFID) transponders, typically thin transceivers that include an integrated circuit chip having radio frequency circuits, control logic, memory and an antenna structure mounted on a supporting substrate, enable vast amounts of information to be encoded and stored and have unique identification.
RFID transponders rank into two primary categories: active (or battery assist) RFID transponders and passive RFID transponders. Active RFID transponders include an integrated power source capable of self-generating signals, which may be used by other, remote reading devices to interpret the data associated with the transponder. Active transponders include batteries and, historically, are considered considerably more expensive than passive RFID transponders. Passive RFID transponders backscatter incident RF energy to remote devices such as interrogators.
One problem of prior-art RFID transponders are permanently locked memory banks that prevent unique information from being erased. The EPC TID memory bank is permalocked by the RFID chip vendor. If the TID contains a unique serial number, as many do in TID bits 30h-5Fh, then notwithstanding non-standard features on the chip to enhance privacy, the transponder can never be reprogrammed as a privacy preserving RFID transponder. Similarly, if the EPC SGTIN for example that is typically stored in bank 01 is permalocked, then it too, with its unique serial number would be an immutable threat to consumer privacy.
Generating a unique EPC serial number is imperative, and is required for EPCglobal RFID tagging implementations. Preferred serialization methods require a central issuing authority of numbers for manufacturers, products, and items to guarantee uniqueness and to avoid duplication of numbers. Blocks of numbers are distributed to remote locations globally. The uniqueness of an identifier is critical to the success of almost any tracking system. Assuring uniqueness is not necessarily simple.
Uniqueness of the numbers is the greatest threat to consumer privacy. A person can be uniquely identified and tracked through a crowd in public places for example by associating a unique number on a transponder with a particular person. The transponder may for example be attached to an article of clothing, a shoe, or handbag. The transponder may be there by choice of the consumer, but the value of the transponder being there should be restricted and controlled by the consumer.
So, despite recent advances in RFID technology, the state-of-the-art does not fully address the needs of simple, efficient, transformation of uniquely numbered RFID transponders and wireless sensors into privacy preserving transponders. Large-scale adoption of RFID transponders depends on systems create value for all parties in the supply chain, including and especially the consumer.
Inventor Christopher Dioria teaches in U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,872,582 and 8,044,774 special function P-R-Bits that are used to selectively kill portions of the RFID chip, preventing them from being read. In U.S. Pat. No. 7,057,492 features are activated at a POS.
In U.S. Pat. No. 7,742,348 Fred Schuessler teaches the use of coarse and fine pointers to selectively lock blocks of memory. In U.S. Patent Application 2008/00011724 inventors Soleimani and White teach secure access identification numbers and associated read lock pass codes. In U.S. Pat. No. 7,007,145 inventors Schrodinger and Blank teach password-protected memory areas on an integrated circuit. In U.S. Patent Application 2004/0246103 inventor Zukowski teaches a first and second access type with differing levels of memory access restrictions. In U.S. Patent Application 2005/0270141 inventor Dalglish teaches an RFID tag that is selectively cloaked by electronically disconnecting the output of the RFID chip from the antenna. In U.S. Pat. No. 7,298,243 inventor Juels teaches a system that uses classifications of identifiers to implement a privacy policy.
The documents EPC Radio-Frequency Identification Protocols Class-1 Generation-2 UHF RFID Protocol for Communications at 860-960 MHz Version 1.2.0 and EPC Tag Data Standard Version 1.5 describe tag recommissioning features that provide privacy for the brand owner and retailer, but fail to address the privacy needs of consumers. For example factory permalocked TID survives the EPC recommissioning process, posing a privacy risk to consumers. Additionally that recommissioning process specifically prevents subsequent recommissioning processes that could beneficially be used to return goods and restore the transponder's original functionality.
WO2011/009768 describes the use of recommissioning features of state-of-the art EPC transponders, but fails to describe the privacy preservation systems, methods, and devices of the present invention.
COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES COMMISSION RECOMMENDATION of Dec. 5, 2009 on the implementation of privacy and data protection principles in applications. In that document, paragraph 12 allows for tags that are used in a retail application and would remain operational after the point of sale that do not represent a likely threat to privacy or the protection of personal data. Retailers are advised to alter, deactivate, or remove any privacy-threatening RFID tags or data.
In US2010/0049368 inventor Chen teaches a robot that moves in response to operating instructions from an identified human voice.
In WO2005/076929 inventor Baker teaches a portal reader comprising a vertical column of RFID antennae. WO 2006/076283 describes an RFID cart which broadly includes a definition of cart that includes robots and a mobile component comprising at least two wheels. Inventors Melton et al fail to disclose how to prevent tipping and to maintain a two-wheeled robot in an upright and operational position. Unlike the present invention which discloses how a two-wheeled robot moves, remains in a controlled upright orientation, and performs its designated function, this prior art could not have enabled the present invention. The patent makes this broad reference to a cart: “or any other suitable vehicle or mobile mechanism of any appropriate size to accommodate at least one RFID antenna 125” but fails to teach the essential aspects of ‘accommodating’ the antenna to achieve the stated goal, fails to specify gain, or beam width, the need for either, and fails to specify the wavelength which greatly determines antenna size. This patent, the patent below, and all other prior art fail to address or solve for the blinding affects reflected carrier from reflective objects in the field of a high gain antenna.
Reflections from shelving and other metal objects in the field of an RFID reader are can blind and possibly saturate baseband amplifiers preventing tag reading. In U.S. Pat. No. 7,733,230 inventors Karen Bomber et al teach the use of a mobile platform with a repositionable antenna structure comprised of at least one readpoint antenna coupled to an antenna tower for reading tags. This patent fails to teach avoidance of retro-reflection problems, nor contemplates the need to narrow or sweep a beam to prevent data loss.
In U.S. Pat. No. 8,237,563 inventors Schatz, et al teach a fork lift reader that determines if a tag is within a small predefined zone or not. In US 2012/0112904 inventor Nagy teaches a tag location system using a plurality of receivers placed about a predefined area. In US2011/0169607 and WO2011/088182 inventor Paulson teaches a tag location system using separate exciters and wideband signals to multiple receiver antennae. In WO2011/135329 and WO2011/135329 and U.S. Pat. No. 8,077,041 the inventors teach a tag location system using a plurality of antenna coupled to an RF transmitter/receiver. In WO2008/118875, US2012/0139704, and EP2137710 inventors Sadr et al teach an RFID tag system comprising a plurality of exciters. In WO2007/094868 Sadr et al teach an RFID receiver that applies predetermined probabilities to a plurality of signal pairs to extract data. In US2010/0310019 inventor Sadr teaches estimation of received signals. In U.S. Pat. No. 8,174,369 inventors Jones and Sadr teach encoding and decoding tags using code word elements. In US2012/02755464 inventor Divsalar teaches a noncoherent soft output detector. In US2011/0254664 inventors Sadr and Jones teach a sensor cloud with a plurality of read zones. In US2012/0188058 Lee and Jones teach a joint beamformer and a plurality of antennae. In US2011/0090059 inventor Sadr teaches an antenna array used to determine RFID tag locations.
No prior art comprehensively teaches systems, methods or devices for moving among, avoiding carrier reflections, and automatically determining the presence and location of retail store inventory, nor for guiding interested consumers to those products as part of an engaging shopping experience, or of enhancing consumer privacy by transforming publicly readable SGTIN information to safe privacy encodings.